Method and apparatus for the provision of information signals based upon speech recognition

ABSTRACT

A wireless system comprises at least one subscriber unit in wireless communication with an infrastructure. Each subscriber unit implements a speech recognition client, and the infrastructure comprises a speech recognition server. A given subscriber unit takes as input an unencoded speech signal that is subsequently parameterized by the speech recognition client. The parameterized speech is then provided to the speech recognition server that, in turn, performs speech recognition analysis on the parameterized speech. Information signals, based in part upon any recognized utterances identified by the speech recognition analysis, are subsequently provided to the subscriber unit. The information signals may be used to control the subscriber unit itself; to control one or more devices coupled to the subscriber unit, or may be operated upon by the subscriber unit or devices coupled thereto.

The present application, Reissue application Ser. No. 13/891,273 filedon May 10, 2013, is a continuation of Reissue application Ser. No.13/891,262, filed on May 10, 2013, which is a reissue application ofU.S. Pat. No. 6,868,385.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to communication systemsincorporating speech recognition and, in particular, to the provision ofinformation signals to subscriber units and/or accompanying devicesbased upon speech recognition analysis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Speech recognition systems are generally known in the art, particularlyin relation to telephony systems. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,914,692; 5,475,791;5,708,704; and 5,765,130 illustrate exemplary telephone networks thatincorporate speech recognition systems. A common feature of such systemsis that the speech recognition element (i.e., the device or devicesperforming speech recognition) is typically centrally located within thefabric of the telephone network, as opposed to at the subscriber'scommunication device (i.e., the user's telephone). In a typicalapplication, a combination of speech synthesis and speech recognitionelements is deployed within a telephone network or infrastructure.Callers may access the system and, via the speech synthesis element, bepresented with information prompts or queries in the form of synthesizedspeech. A caller will typically provide a spoken response to thesynthesized speech and the speech recognition element will process thecaller's spoken response in order to provide further service to thecaller.

Although a substantial body of prior art exists regarding systems suchas those described above, the incorporation of speech recognitionsystems into wireless communication systems is a relatively newdevelopment. In an effort to standardize the application of speechrecognition in wireless communication environments, work has recentlybeen initiated by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI) on the so-called Aurora Project. A goal of the Aurora Project isto define a global standard for distributed speech recognition systems.Generally, the Aurora Project is proposing to establish a client-serverarrangement in which front-end speech recognition processing, such asfeature extraction or parameterization, is performed within a subscriberunit (e.g., a handheld wireless communication device such as a cellulartelephone). The data provided by the front-end would then be conveyed toa server to perform back-end speech recognition processing.

It is anticipated that the client-server arrangement being proposed bythe Aurora Project will adequately address the needs for a distributedspeech recognition system. However, it is uncertain at this time whatfeatures and services the Aurora Project will enable. For example,efforts are currently under way to develop so-called telematics systems.Telematics systems may be broadly defined to include any technologyconcerning the delivery of information-based services to users and theirdevices in their vehicles. However, there does not appear to be anysignificant solutions defining how speech recognition technology can beincorporated into telematics systems. Thus, it would be advantageous toprovide a technique incorporating speech recognition technology intotelematics systems, as well as other systems, in order to enable variousservices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a technique, principally applicable towireless communication environments, for providing information tosubscriber units based on speech recognition processing. In general, awireless system in accordance with the present invention comprises atleast one subscriber unit in wireless communication with aninfrastructure. Preferably, each subscriber unit implements a speechrecognition client, whereas the infrastructure comprises a speechrecognition server. A given subscriber unit takes as input an unencodedspeech signal that is subsequently parameterized by the speechrecognition client. The parameterized speech is then provided to thespeech recognition server which, in turn, performs speech recognitionanalysis on the parameterized speech. Information signals, based in partupon any recognized utterances identified by the speech recognitionanalysis, are subsequently provided to the subscriber unit. Theinformation signals may comprise control signals used to control thesubscriber unit itself or to control one or more devices coupled to thesubscriber unit. Alternatively, the information signals may comprisedata signals to be operated upon by the subscriber unit itself ordevices coupled to the subscriber unit. Such data signals can be used tolocally develop control signals, or may lead to the provision ofadditional user data to the speech recognition server which, in turn canrespond with additional information signals as described above. In thismanner, the present invention provides a technique for enabling servicesin wireless subscriber units based in part upon a client-server speechrecognition model.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communications System inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a subscriber unit in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of voice and data processingfunctionality within a subscriber unit in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a speech recognition server in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of voice and data processingfunctionality within a speech recognition server in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a speech recognitionserver in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a subscriber unit inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention may be more fully described with reference toFIGS. 1-7. FIG. 1 illustrates the overall system architecture of awireless communication system 100 comprising subscriber units 102-103.The subscriber units 102-103 communication with an infrastructure via awireless channel 105 supported by a wireless system 110. Theinfrastructure of the present invention may comprise, in addition to thewireless system 110, any of a small entity system 120, a contentprovider system 130 and an enterprise system 140 coupled together via adata network 150.

The subscriber units may comprise any wireless communication device,such as a handheld cellphone 103 or a wireless communication deviceresiding in a vehicle 102, capable of communicating with a communicationinfrastructure. It is understood that a variety of subscriber units,other than those shown in FIG. 1, could be used; the present inventionis not limited in this regard. The subscriber units 102-103 preferablyinclude the components of a hands-free cellular phone, for hands-freevoice communication, a local speech recognition and synthesis system,and the client portion of a client-server speech recognition andsynthesis system. These components are described in greater detail belowwith respect to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The subscriber units 102-103 wirelessly communicate with the wirelesssystem 110 via the wireless channel 105. The wireless system 110preferably comprises a cellular system, although those having ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that the present invention may bebeneficially applied to other types of wireless systems supporting voicecommunications. The wireless channel 105 is typically a radio frequency(RF) carrier implementing digital transmission techniques and capable ofconveying speech and/or data both to and from the subscriber units102-103. It is understood that other transmission techniques, such asanalog techniques, may also be used. In a preferred embodiment, thewireless channel 105 is a wireless packet data channel, such as theGeneral Packet Data Radio Service (GPRS) defined by the EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The wireless channel 105transports data to facilitate communication between a client portion ofthe client-server speech recognition and synthesis system, and theserver portion of the client-server speech recognition and synthesissystem. Other information, such as display, control, location, or statusinformation can also be transported across the wireless channel 105.

The wireless system 110 comprises an antenna 112 that receivestransmissions conveyed by the wireless channel 105 from the subscriberunits 102-103. The antenna 112 also transmits to the subscriber units102-103 via the wireless channel 105. Data received via the antenna 112is converted to a data signal and transported to the wireless network113. Conversely, data from the wireless network 113 is sent to theantenna 112 for transmission. In the context of the present invention,the wireless network 113 comprises those devices necessary to implementa wireless system, such as base stations, controllers, resourceallocators, interfaces, databases, etc. as generally known in the art.As those having ordinary skill the art will appreciate, the particularelements incorporated into the wireless network 113 is dependent uponthe particular type of wireless system 110 used, e.g., a cellularsystem, a trunked land-mobile system, etc.

A speech recognition server 115 providing a server portion of aclient-server speech recognition and synthesis system may be coupled tothe wireless network 113 thereby allowing an operator of the wirelesssystem 110 to provide speech-based services to users of the subscriberunits 102-103. A control entity 116 may also be coupled to the wirelessnetwork 113. The control entity 116 can be used to send control signals,responsive to input provided by the speech recognition server 115, tothe subscriber units 102-103 to control the subscriber units or devicesinterconnected to the subscriber units. As shown, the control entity116, which may comprise any suitably programmed general purposecomputer, may be coupled to the speech recognition server 115 eitherthrough the wireless network 113 or directly, as shown by the dashedinterconnection.

As noted above, the infrastructure of the present invention can comprisea variety of systems 110, 120, 130, 140 coupled together via a datanetwork 150. A suitable data network 150 may comprise a private datanetwork using known network technologies, a public network such as theInternet, or a combination thereof. As alternatives, or in addition to,the speech recognition server 115 within the wireless system 110, remotespeech recognition servers 123, 132, 143, 145 may be connected invarious ways to the data network 150 to provide speech-based services tothe subscriber units 102-103. The remote speech recognition servers,when provided, are similarly capable of communicating to with thecontrol entity 116 through the data network 150 and any interveningcommunication paths.

A computer 122, such as a desktop personal computer or othergeneral-purpose processing device, within a small entity system 120(such as a small business or home) can be used to implement a speechrecognition server 123. Data to and from the subscriber units 102-103 isrouted through the wireless system 110 and the data network 150 to thecomputer 122. Executing stored software algorithms and processes, thecomputer 122 provides the functionality of the speech recognition server123, which, in the preferred embodiment, includes the server portions ofboth a speech recognition system and a speech synthesis system. Where,for example, the computer 122 is a user's personal computer, the speechrecognition server software on the computer can be coupled to the user'spersonal information residing on the computer, such as the user'sentail, telephonic book, calendar, or other information. Thisconfiguration would allow the user of a subscriber unit to accesspersonal information on their personal computer utilizing a voice-basedinterface. The client portions of the client-server speech recognitionand speech synthesis systems in accordance with the present inventionare described in conjunction with FIGS. 2 and 3 below. The serverportions of the client-server speech recognition and speech synthesissystems in accordance with the present invention are described inconjunction with FIGS. 4 and 5 below.

Alternatively, a content provider 130, which has information it wouldlike to make available to users of subscriber units, can connect aspeech recognition server 132 to the data network. Offered as a featureor special service, the speech recognition server 132 provides avoice-based interface to users of subscriber units desiring access tothe content provider's information (not shown).

Another possible location for a speech recognition server is within anenterprise 140, such as a large corporation or similar entity. Theenterprise's internal network 146, such as an Intranet, is connected tothe data network 150 via security gateway 142. The security gateway 142provides, in conjunction with the subscriber units, secure access to theenterprise's internal network 146. As known in the art, the secureaccess provided in this manner typically rely, in part, uponauthentication and encryption technologies. In this manner, securecommunications between subscriber units and an internal network 146 viaan unsecured data network 150 are provided. Within the enterprise 140,server software implementing a speech recognition server 145 can beprovided on a personal computer 144, such as a given employee'sworkstation. Similar to the configuration described above for use insmall entity systems, the workstation approach allows an employee toaccess work-related or other information through a voice-basedinterface. Also, similar to the content provider 130 model, theenterprise 140 can provide an internally available speech recognitionserver 143 to provide access to enterprise databases.

Regardless of where the speech recognition servers of the presentinvention are deployed, they can be used to implement a variety ofspeech-based services. For example, operating in conjunction with thecontrol entity 116, when provided, the speech recognition servers enableoperational control of subscriber units or devices coupled to thesubscriber units. It should be noted that the term speech recognitionserver, as used throughout this description, is intended to includespeech synthesis functionality as well.

The infrastructure of the present invention also providesinterconnections between the subscriber units 102-103 and normaltelephony systems. This is illustrated in FIG. 1 by the coupling of thewireless network 113 to a POTS (plain old telephone system) network 118.As known in the art, the POTS network 118, or similar telephone network,provides communication access to a plurality of calling stations 119,such as landline telephone handsets or other wireless devices. In thismanner, a user of a subscriber unit 102-103 can carry on voicecommunications with another user of a calling station 119.

FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware architecture that may be used to implementa subscriber unit in accordance with the present invention. As shown,two wireless transceivers may be used: a wireless data transceiver 203,and a wireless voice transceiver 204. As known in the art, thesetransceivers may be combined into a single transceiver that can performboth data and voice functions. The wireless data transceiver 203 and thewireless speech transceiver 204 are both connected to an antenna 205.Alternatively, separate antennas for each transceiver may also be used.The wireless voice transceiver 204 performs all necessary signalprocessing, protocol termination, modulation/demodulation, etc. toprovide wireless voice communication and, in the preferred embodiment,comprises a cellular transceiver. In a similar manner, the wireless datatransceiver 203 provides data connectivity with the infrastructure. In apreferred embodiment, the wireless data transceiver 203 supportswireless packet data, such as the General Packet Data Radio Service(GPRS) defined by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI).

It is anticipated that the present invention can be applied withparticular advantage to in-vehicle systems, as discussed below. Whenemployed in-vehicle, a subscriber unit in accordance with the presentinvention also includes processing components that would generally beconsidered part of the vehicle and not part of the subscriber unit. Forthe purposes of describing the instant invention, it is assigned thatsuch processing components are part of the subscriber unit. It isunderstood that an actual implementation of a subscriber unit may or maynot include such processing components as dictated by designconsiderations. In a preferred embodiment, the processing componentscomprise a general-purpose processor (CPU) 201, such as a “POWER PC” byIBM Corp., and a digital signal processor (DSP) 202, such as a DSP56300series processor by Motorola Inc. The CPU 201 and the DSP 202 are shownin contiguous fashion in FIG. 2 to illustrate that they are coupledtogether via data and address buses, as well as other controlconnections, as known in the art. Alternative embodiments could combinethe functions for both the CPU 201 and the DSP 202 into a singleprocessor or split them into several processors. Both the CPU 201 andthe DSP 202 are coupled to a respective memory 240, 241 that providesprogram and data storage for its associated processor. Using storedsoftware routines, the CPU 201 and/or the DSP 202 can be programmed toimplement at least a portion of the functionality of the presentinvention. Software functions of the CPU 201 and DSP 202 will bedescribed, at least in part, with regard to FIGS. 3 and 7 below.

In a preferred embodiment, subscriber units also include a globalpositioning satellite (GPS) receiver 206 coupled to an antenna 207. TheGPS receiver 206 is coupled to the DSP 202 to provide received GPSinformation. The DSP 202 takes information from GPS receiver 206 andcomputes location coordinates if the wireless communications device.Alternatively the GPS receiver 206 may provide location informationdirectly to the CPU 201.

Various inputs and outputs of the CPU 201 and DSP 202 are illustrated inFIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the heavy solid lines correspond tovoice-related information, and the heavy dashed lines correspond tocontrol/data-related information. Optional elements and signal paths areillustrated using dotted lines. The DSP 202 receives microphone audio220 from a microphone 270 that provides voice input for both telephone(cellphone) conversations and voice input to both a local speechrecognizer and a client-side portion of a client-server speechrecognizer, as described in further detail below. The DSP 202 is alsocoupled to output audio 211 which is directed to at least one speaker271 that provides voice output for telephone (cellphone) conversationsand voice output from both a local speech synthesizer and a client-sideportion of a client-server speech synthesizer. Note that the microphone270 and the speaker 271 may be proximally located together, as in ahandheld device, or may be distally located relative to each other, asin an automotive application having a visor-mounted microphone and adash or door-mounted speaker.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the CPU 201 is coupledthrough a bi-directional interface 230 to an in-vehicle data bus 208.This data bus 208 allows control and status information to becommunicated between various devices 209a-n in the vehicle, such as acellphone, entertainment system, climate control system, etc. and theCPU 201. It is expected that a suitable data bus 208 will be an ITS DataBus (IDB) currently in the process of being standardized by the Societyof Automotive Engineers. Alternative means of communicating control andstatus information between various devices may be used such as theshort-range, wireless data communication system being defined by theBluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The data bus 208 allows the CPU201 to control the devices 209 on the vehicle data bus in response tovoice commands recognized either by a local speech recognizer or theclient-server speech recognizer.

CPU 201 is coupled to the wireless data transceiver 203 via a receivedata connection 231 and a transmit data connection 232. Theseconnections 231-232 allow the CPU 201 to receive control information andspeech-synthesis information sent from the wireless system 110. Thespeech-synthesis information is received from a server portion of aclient-server speech synthesis via the wireless data channel 105. TheCPU 201 decodes the speech-synthesis audio output 211. Any controlinformation received via the receive data connection 231 may be used tocontrol operation of the subscriber unit itself or sent to one or moreof the devices in order to control their operation. Additionally, theCPU 201 can send status information, and the output data from the clientportion of the client-server speech recognition system, to the wirelesssystem 110. The client portion of the client-server speech recognitionsystem is preferably implemented in software in the DSP 202 and the CPU201, as described in greater detail below. When supporting speechrecognition, the DSP 202 receives speech from the microphone input 220and processes this audio to provide a parameterized speech signal to theCPU 201. The CPU 201 encodes the parameterized speech signal and sendsthis information to the wireless data transceiver 203 via the transmitdata connection 232 to be sent over the wireless data channel 105 to aspeech recognition server in the infrastructure.

The wireless voice transceiver 204 is coupled to the CPU 201 via abi-directional data bus 233. This data bus allows the CPU 201 to controlthe operation of the wireless voice transceiver 203 and receive statusinformation from the wireless voice transceiver 204. The wireless voicetransceiver 204 is also coupled to the DSP 202 via a transmit audioconnection 221 and a receive audio connection 210. When the wirelessvoice transceiver 204 is being used to facilitate a telephone (cellular)call, audio is received from the microphone input 220 by the DSP 202.The microphone audio is processed (e.g., filtered, compressed, etc.) andprovided to the wireless voice transceiver 204 to be transmitted to thecellular infrastructure. Conversely, audio received by wireless voicetransceiver 204 is sent via the receive audio connection 210 to the DSP202 where the audio is processed (e.g., decompressed, filtered, etc.)and provided to the speaker output 211. The processing performed by theDSP 202 will be described in greater detail with regard to FIG. 3.

The subscriber unit illustrated in FIG. 2 may optionally comprise aninput device 250 for use in manually providing an interrupt indicator251 during a voice communication. That is, during a voice conversation,a user of the subscriber unit can manually activate the input device toprovide an interrupt indicator, thereby signaling the user's desire towake up speech recognition functionality. For example, during a voicecommunication, the user of the subscriber unit may wish to interrupt theconversation in order to provide speech-based commands to an electronicattendant, e.g., to dial up and add a third party to the call. The inputdevice 250 may comprise virtually any type of user-activated inputmechanism, particular examples of which include a single or multipurposebutton, a multi-position selector or a menu-driven display with inputcapabilities. Alternatively, the input device 250 may be connected tothe CPU 201 via the bi-directional interface 230 and the in-vehicle databus 208. Regardless, when such an input device 250 is provided, the CPU201 acts as a detector to identify the occurrence of the interruptindicator. When the CPU 201 acts as a detector for the input device 250,the CPU 201 indicates the presence of the interrupt indicator to the DSP202, as illustrated by the signal path indentified by the referencenumeral 260. Conversely, another implementation uses a local speechrecognizer (preferably implemented within the DSP 202 and/or CPU 201)coupled to a detector application to provide the interrupt indicator. Inthat case, either the CPU 201 or the DSP 202 would signal the presenceof the interrupt indicator, as represented by the signal path identifiedby the reference numeral 260a. Regardless, once the presence of theinterrupt indicator has been detected, a portion of a speech recognitionelement (preferably the client portion implemented in conjunction withor as part of the subscriber unit) is activated to begin processingvoice based commands. Additionally, an indication that the portion ofthe speech recognition element has been activated may also be providedto the user and to a speech recognition server. In a preferredembodiment, such an indication is conveyed via the transmit dataconnection 232 to the wireless data transceiver 203 for transmission toa speech recognition server cooperating with the speech recognitionclient to provide the speech recognition element.

Finally, the subscriber unit is preferably equipped with an annunciator255 for providing an indication to a user of the subscriber unit inresponse to annunciator control 256 that the speech recognitionfunctionality has been activated in response to the interrupt indicator.The annunciator 255 is activated in response to the detection of theinterrupt indicator, and may comprise a speaker used to provide anaudible indication, such as a limited-duration tone or beep. (Again, thepresence of the interrupt indicator can be signaled using either theinput device-based signal 260 or the speech-based signal 260a.) Inanother implementation, the functionality of the annunciator is providedvia a software program executed by the DSP 202 that directs audio to thespeaker output 211. The speaker may be separate from or the same as thespeaker 271 used to render the audio output 211 audible. Alternatively,the annunciator 255 may comprise a display device, such as an LED or LCDdisplay, that provides a visual indicator. The particular form of theannunciator 255 is a matter of design choice, and the present inventionneed not be limited in this regard. Further still, the annunciator 255may be connected to the CPU 201 via the bi-directional interface 230 andthe in-vehicle data bus 208.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a portion of the processing performed withinsubscriber units (operating in accordance with the present invention) isschematically illustrated. Preferably, the processing illustrated inFIG. 3 is implemented using stored, machine-readable instructionsexecuted by the CPU 201 and/or the DSP 202. The discussion presentedbelow describes the operation of a subscriber unit deployed within anautomotive vehicle. However, the functionality generally illustrated inFIG. 3 and described herein is equally applicable to non-vehicle-basedapplications that use, or could benefit from the use of, speechrecognition.

Microphone audio 220 is provided as an input to the subscriber unit. Inan automotive environment, the microphone would be a hands-freemicrophone typically mounted on or near the visor or steering column ofthe vehicle. Preferably, the microphone audio 220 arrives at the echocancellation and environmental processing (ECEP) block 301 in digitalform. The speaker audio 211 is delivered to the speaker(s) by the ECEPblock 301 after undergoing any necessary processing. In a vehicle, suchspeakers can be mounted under the dashboard. Alternatively, the speakeraudio 211 can be routed through an in-vehicle entertainment system to beplayed through the entertainment system's speaker system. The speakeraudio 211 is preferably in a digital format. When a cellular phone call,for example, is in progress, received audio from the cellular phonearrives at the ECEP block 301 via the receive audio connection 210.Likewise, transmit audio is delivered to the cell phone over thetransmit audio connection 221.

The ECEP block 301 provides echo cancellation of speaker audio 211 fromthe microphone audio 220 before delivery, via the transmit audioconnection 221, to the wireless voice transceiver 204. This form of echocancellation is known as acoustic echo cancellation and is well known inthe art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,599 issued to Amano et al. andtitled “Sub-band Acoustic Echo Canceller”, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,668issued to Genter and entitled “Echo Canceler with Subband Attenuationand Noise Injection Control” teach suitable techniques for performingacoustic echo cancellation, the teachings of which patents are herebyincorporated by this reference.

The ECEP block 301 also provides, in addition to echo-cancellation,environmental processing to the microphone audio 220 in order to providea more pleasant voice signal to the party receiving the audiotransmitted by the subscriber unit. One technique that is commonly usedis called noise suppression. The hand-free microphone in a vehicle willtypically pick up many types of acoustic noise that will be heard by theother party. This technique reduces the perceived background noise thatthe other party hears and is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.4,811,404 issued to Vilmur et al., the teachings of which patent arehereby incorporated by this reference.

The ECEP block 301 also provides echo-cancellation processing ofsynthesized speech provided by the speech-synthesis back end 304 via afirst audio path 316, which synthesized speech is to be delivered to thespeaker(s) via the audio output 211. As in the case with received voicerouted to the speaker(s), the speaker audio “echo” which arrives on themicrophone audio path 220 is cancelled out. This allows speaker audiothat is acoustically coupled to the microphone to be eliminated from themicrophone audio before being delivered to the speech recognition frontend 302. This type of processing enables what is known in the art as“barge-in”. Barge-in allows a speech recognition system to respond toinput speech while output speech is simultaneously being generated bythe system. Examples of “barge-in” implementations can be found, forexample, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,914,692; 5,475,791; 5,708,704; and5,765,130.

Echo-cancellation microphone audio is supplied to a speech recognitionfront end 302 via a second audio path 326 whenever speech recognitionprocessing is being performed. Optionally, ECEP block 301 providesbackground noise information to the speech recognition front end 302 viaa first data path 327. This background noise information can be used toimprove recognition performance for speech recognition systems operatingin noisy environments. A suitable technique for performing suchprocessing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,732 issued to Gerson etal., the teachings of which patent are hereby incorporated by thisreference.

Based on the echo-cancelled microphone audio and, optionally, thebackground noise information received from the ECEP block 301, thespeech recognition front-end 302 generates parameterized speechinformation. Together, the speech recognition front-end 302 and thespeech synthesis back-end 304 provide the core functionality of aclient-side portion of a client-server based speech recognition andsynthesis system. Parameterized speech information is typically in theform of feature vectors, where a new vector is computed every 10 to 20msec. One commonly used technique for the parameterization of a speechsignal is mel cepstra as described by Davis et al. in “Comparison OfParametric Representations For Monosyllabic Word Recognition InContinuously Spoken Sentences,” IEEE Transactions on Acoustics Speechand Signal Processing, ASSP-28 (4), pp. 357-366, August 1980, theteachings of which publication are hereby incorporated by thisreference.

The parameter vectors computed by the speech recognition front-end 302are passed to a local speech recognition block 303 via a second datapath 325 for local speech recognition processing. The parameter vectorsare also optionally passed, via a third data path 323, to a protocolprocessing block 306 comprising speech application protocol interfaces(API's) and data protocols. In accordance with known techniques, theprocessing block 306 sends the parameter vectors to the wireless datatransceiver 203 via the transmit data connection 232. In turn, thewireless data transceiver 203 conveys the parameter vectors to a serverfunctioning as a part of the client-server based speech recognizer.While a single speech recognition front-end 302 is shown, the localspeech recognizer 303 and the client-server based speech recognizer mayin fact utilize different speech recognition front-ends.

The local speech recognizer 303 receives the parameter vectors 325 fromthe speech recognition front-end 302 and performs speech recognitionanalysis thereon, for example, to determine whether there are anyrecognizable utterances within the parameterized speech. In oneembodiment, the recognized utterances (typically, words) are sent fromthe local speech recognizer 303 to the protocol processing block 306 viaa fourth data path 324, which in turn passes the recognized utterancesto various applications 307 for further processing. The applications307, which may be implemented using either or both of the CPU 201 andDSP 202, can include a detector application that, based on recognizedutterances, ascertains that a speech-based interrupt indicator has beenreceived. For example, the detector compares the recognized utterancesagainst a list of predetermined utterances (e.g., “wake up”) searchingfor a match. When a match is detected, the detector application issues asignal 260a signifying the presence of the interrupt indicator. The=presence of the interrupt indicator, in turn, is used to activate aportion of speech recognition element to begin processing voice-basedcommands. This is schematically illustrated in FIG. 3 by the signal 260abeing fed to the speech recognition front end. In response, the speechrecognition front end 302 would either continue routing parameterizedaudio to the local speech recognizer or, preferably, to the protocolprocessing block 306 for transmission to a speech recognition server foradditional processing. (Note also that the input device-based signal260, optionally provided by the input device 250, may also serve thesame function.) Additionally, the presence of the interrupt indicatormay be sent to transmit data connection 232 to alert aninfrastructure-based element of a speech recognizer.

The speech synthesis back end 304 takes as input a parametricrepresentation of speech and converts the parametric representation to aspeech signal which is then delivered to ECEP block 301 via the firstaudio path 316. The particular parametric representation used is amatter of design choice. One commonly used parametric representation isformant parameters as described in Klatt, “Software For ACascade/Parallel Formant Synthesizer”, Journal of the Acoustical Societyof America, Vol. 67, 1980, pp. 971-995. Linear prediction parameters areanother commonly used Parametric representation as discussed in Markelet al., Linear Prediction of Speech, Springer Verlag, New York, 1976.The respective teachings of the Klatt and Markel et al. publications areincorporated herein by this reference.

In the case of client-server based speech synthesis, the parametricrepresentation of speech is received from the network via the wirelesschannel 105, the wireless data transceiver 203 and the protocolprocessing block 306, where it is forwarded to the speech synthesisback-end via a fifth data path 313. In the case of local speechsynthesis, an application 307 would generate a test string to be spoken.This text string would be passed through the protocol processing block306 via a sixth data path 314 to a local speech synthesizer 305. Thelocal speech synthesizer 305 converts the text string into a parametricrepresentation of the speech signal and passes this parametricrepresentation via a seventh data path 315 to the speech synthesisback-end 304 for conversion to a speech signal.

It should be noted that the receive data connection 231 can be used totransport other received information in addition to speech synthesisinformation. For example, the other received information may includedata (such as display information) and/or control information receivedfrom the infrastructure, and code to be downloaded into the system.Likewise, the transmit data connection 232 can be used to transportother transmit information in addition to the parameter vectors computedby the speech recognition front-end 302. For example, the other transmitinformation may include device status information, device capabilities,and information related to barge-in timing.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a hardware embodiment of aspeech recognition server that provides the server portion of theclient-server speech recognition and synthesis system in accordance withthe present invention. This server can reside in several environments asdescribed above with regard to FIG. 1. Data communication withsubscriber units or a control entity is enabled through aninfrastructure or network connection 411. This connection 411 may belocal to, for example, a wireless system and connected directly to awireless network, as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the connection 411may be to a public or private data network, or some other datacommunications link; the present invention is not limited in thisregard.

A network interface 405 provides connectivity between a CPU 401 and thenetwork connection 411. The network interface 405 routes data from thenetwork 411 to CPU 401 via a receive path 408, and from the CPU 401 tothe network connection 411 via a transmit path 410. As part of aclient-server arrangement, the CPU 401 communicates with one or moreclients (preferably implemented in subscriber units) via the networkinterface 405 and the network connection 411. In a preferred embodiment,the CPU 401 implements the server portion of the client-server speechrecognition and synthesis system. Although not shown, the serverillustrated in FIG. 4 may also comprise a local interface allowing localaccess to the server thereby facilitating, for example, servermaintenance, status checking and other similar functions.

A memory 403 stores machine-readable instructions (software) and programdata for execution and use by the CPU 401 in implementing the serverportion of the client-server arrangement. The operation and structure ofthis software is further described with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 illustrates an implementation of speech recognition and synthesisserver functions. Cooperating with at least one speech recognitionclient, the speech recognition server functionality illustrated in FIG.5 provides a speech recognition element. Data from a subscriber unitarrives via the receive path 408 at a receiver (RX) 502. The receiverdecodes the data and routes speech recognition data 503 from the speechrecognition client to a speech recognition analyzer 504. Otherinformation 506 from the subscriber unit, such as device statusinformation, device capabilities, and information related to barge-incontext, is routed by the receiver 502 to a local control processor 508.In one embodiment, the other information 506 includes an indication fromthe subscriber unit that a portion of a speech recognition element(e.g., a speech recognition client) has been activated. Such anindication can be used to initiate speech recognition processing in thespeech recognition server.

As part of a client-server speech recognition arrangement, the speechrecognition analyzer 504 takes speech recognition parameter vectors froma subscriber unit and completes recognition, processing. Recognizedwords or utterances 507 are then passed to the local control processor508. A description of the processing required to convert parametervectors to recognized utterances can be found in Lee et al, “AutomaticSpeech Recognition: The Development of the Sphinx System”, 1988, theteachings of which publication are herein incorporated by thisreference.

The local control processor 508 receives the recognized Utterances 507from the speech recognition analyzer 504 and other information 508.Generally, the present invention requires a control processor to operateupon the recognized utterances and, based on the recognized utterances,provide control signals. In a preferred embodiment, these controlsignals are used to subsequently control the operation of a subscriberunit or at least one device coupled to a subscriber unit. To this end,the local control processor may preferably operate in one of twomanners. First, the local control processor 508 can implementapplication programs. One example of a typical application is anelectronic assistant as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,789.Alternatively, such applications can run remotely on a remote controlprocessor 516. For example, in the system of FIG. 1, the remote controlprocessor would comprise the control entity 116. In this case, the localcontrol processor 508 operates like a gateway by passing and receivingdata by communicating with the remote control processor 516 via a datanetwork connection 515. The data network connection 515 may be a public(e.g., Internet), a private (e.g., Intranet), or some other datacommunications link. Indeed, the local control processor 508 maycommunicate with various remote control processors residing on the datanetwork dependent upon the application/service being utilized by a user.

The application program running either on the remote control processor516 or the local control processor 508 determines a response to therecognized utterances 507 and/or the other information 506. Preferably,the response may comprise a synthesized message and/or control signals.Control signals 513 are relayed from the local control processor 508 toa transmitter (TX) 510. Information 514 to be synthesized, typicallytext information, is sent from the local control processor 508 to atext-to-speech analyzer 512. The text-to-speech analyzer 512 convertsthe input text string into a parametric speech recognition. A suitabletechnique for performing such a conversion is described in Sproat(editor), “Multilingual Text-To-Speech Synthesis: The Bell LabsApproach”, 1977, the teachings of which publication are incorporatedherein by this reference. The parametric speech representation 511 fromthe text-to-speech analyzer 512 is provided to the transmitter 510 thatmultiplexes, as necessary, the parametric speech representation 511 andthe control information 513 over the transmit path 410 for transmissionto a subscriber unit. Operating in the same manner just described, thetext-to-speech analyzer 512 may also be used to provide synthesizedprompts or the like to be played as an output audio signal at asubscriber unit.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a flow chart describingoperation of a speech recognition server in accordance with the presentinvention. At step 601, the speech recognition server receives aparameterized speech signal from a subscriber unit. In practice, thespeech recognition server is capable of processing the parameterizedspeech signals from more than a single subscriber unit and is onlylimited by the amount of available processing and communicationresources. At step 602, the speech recognition server performs speechrecognition analysis upon the parameterized speech signals. Assumingfavorable circumstances, the speech recognition analysis will provideinformation regarding recognized utterances detected within theparameterized speech signals.

As noted above, information signals in the context of the instantinvention may comprise data signals that may be operated upon by asubscriber unit or devices coupled thereto, or control signals that maybe used to control operation of the subscriber unit or its associateddevices. In order to provide information signals in response to therecognized utterances, the recognized utterances may be processed in oneof two ways. According to the first method, illustrated by steps 603 and604, the speech recognition server (e.g., through the local controlprocessor 508) first determines information signals based upon therecognized utterances. For example, this could be done through the useof lookup-tables, pattern matching and/or similar mechanisms tocorrelate a specific recognized utterance or string of utterances to oneor more predefined information signals. For example, if the recognizedutterances comprise a query regarding a certain party's phone number,the information signal provided in response may comprise that party'sphone number ascertained by accessing a data base of phone membersindexed by names. As another example, if the recognized utterancescomprise an instruction to establish telephone call with a named party,the information signal may comprise the relevant party's phone number,as determined from a data base, and a control signal instructing thesubscriber unit to dial the party's phone number, as determined by yetanother data base indexed by command content. A large variety of similarscenarios are readily identifiable by those having ordinary skill in theart. Regardless of the method used, the speech recognition serversubsequently provides the resulting information signals to thesubscriber unit.

In the second method, the speech recognition server, rather thandirectly determining any control signals, provides the informationregarding the recognized utterances to a control entity or remotecontrol processor at step 605. In this manner, the control entity orremote control processor can perform the same processing as describedabove relative to steps 603, after which processing, the control entityor remote control processor will route the information signals directlyto the subscriber unit. Regardless of the method used, the speechrecognition server of the present invention facilitates the provision ofinformation signals to subscriber units in wireless communicationsystems.

Optional steps 606 and 607 are also illustrated in FIG. 6 and describedoperations of the speech recognition server (or associated controlentity) in response to additional user input. That is, at step 606, userdata, provided in response to the information signals, are received fromthe subscriber unit. In this context, the “user data” may comprise notonly a parameterized speech signal; but other input data such as, forexample, DTMF tones. This scenario could arise, for example, where auser originally requests a party's phone number by name. If, however,ambiguity exists because of multiple parties having the same name, theinformation signals provided in response may request the user to selectone of the parties through use of a touch-tone pad (i.e., using DTMFtones) or by responding to the name of one of the parties. The dataselecting a particular party in this case would be the user data. Again,a wide variety of situations encompassing such functionality will bereadily apparent to the reader. In response to the user data, additionalinformation signals, again comprising data and/or control signals, maybe provided at step 607. Referring to the previous example, theadditional information signals would comprise the phone number of theselected party and, possibly, a control signal instructing thesubscriber unit to dial the phone number.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is illustrated a flow chart describingoperation of a subscriber unit in accordance with the present invention.At step 701, the subscriber unit receives an unencoded speech signal.Preferably, the unencoded speech signal is digitally represented orconverted to a digital representation prior to additional processing. Atstep 702, in accordance with the techniques described above, theunencoded speech signal is analyzed to provide a parameterized speechsignal. The parameterized speech signal is then transmitted at step 703to a speech recognition server, where, in accordance with the processingsteps illustrated in FIG. 6 and described above, information signals areascertained, if possible.

At step 704, the subscriber unit receives the information signals, ifany, which are based upon the parameterized speech signal. Consequently,at steps 705 and 706, the information signals are operated upon by, orused to control operation of, the subscriber unit itself or any devicescoupled to the subscriber unit, as might be the case with an in-vehiclesystem. It should be noted that when the information signals comprisedata, the data can be used to locally generate (i.e., at the subscriberunit) control signals. For example, receipt of a phone number from theinfrastructure can be used to trigger a control signal instructing thesubscriber unit to dial the phone number. Alternatively, receipt of avoice prompt to be rendered audible may cause the generation of acontrol signal instructing a stereo coupled to the subscriber unit toreduce the volume of, or mute altogether, its current audio output.Other examples incorporating such functionality are readilyidentifiable.

Furthermore, optional steps 707 and 708 correspond to, and are thecomplement of, steps 606 and 607 described above. In particular, at step707, the subscriber unit provides user data to the infrastructure (i.e.,the speech recognition server and/or a control entity). Again, the userdata provided at step 707 is responsive to the previously receivedinformation signals. At step 708, the subscriber unit receivesadditional information signals, comprising data and/or control signals,from the infrastructure, which control signals may be operated upon orused to control the subscriber unit or any devices coupled to thesubscriber unit.

The present invention as described above provides a unique technique forproviding control signals to subscriber units in a wirelesscommunication system. Relying in part upon a client-server speechrecognition arrangement, the present invention provides an efficientmethod for supplying information signals to subscriber units. As aresult, the present invention can be used to enable services. What hasbeen described above is merely illustrative of the application of theprinciples of the present invention. Other arrangements and methods canbe implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a speech recognition server forming a part ofan infrastructure that wirelessly communicates with one or moresubscriber units, each of the one or more subscriber units comprising aspeech recognition client, a method for providing information signals toa subscriber unit of the one or more subscriber units, the methodcomprising steps of: receiving a parameterized speech signal, producedby the speech recognition client, from the subscriber unit; performingspeech recognition analysis on the parameterized speech signal toprovide recognized utterances; determining information signals based onthe recognized utterances; and responsive to the recognized utterances,providing the information signals to the subscriber unit.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the speech recognition client, based on an unencodedspeech signal input to the subscriber unit, provides the parameterizedspeech signal.
 3. The method of claim 1, the step of providing theinformation signals further comprising a step of: directing theinformation signals to the subscriber unit, wherein the informationsignals control operation of the subscriber unit.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, thestep of providing the information signals further comprising a step of:directing the information signals to the at least one device, whereinthe information signals control operation of the at least one device. 5.The method of claim 1, the step of providing the information signalsfurther comprising a step of: directing the information signals to thesubscriber unit, wherein the subscriber unit operates upon theinformation signals.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising stepsof: receiving user data in response to the information signals from thesubscriber unit; and responsive to the user data, providing additionalinformation signals to the subscriber unit.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, the stepof providing the information signals further comprising a step of:directing the information signals to the at least one device, whereinthe at least one device operates upon the information signals.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising steps of: receiving user data inresponse to the information signals from the subscriber unit; andresponsive to the user data, providing additional information signals tothe subscriber unit.
 9. A computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited inclaim
 1. 10. In a speech recognition server forming a part of aninfrastructure that wirelessly communicates with one or more subscriberunits, each of the one or more subscriber units comprising a speechrecognition client, a method for providing information signals to asubscriber unit of the one or more subscriber units, the methodcomprising steps of: receiving a parameterized speech signal from thesubscriber unit, the parameterized speech signal being output by thespeech recognition client; performing speech recognition analysis on theparameterized speech signal to provide recognized utterances; andproviding information regarding the recognized utterances to controlentity forming a part of the infrastructure, wherein the control entityprovides the information signals to the subscriber unit based on theinformation regarding the recognized utterances.
 11. The method of claim10, wherein the speech recognition client, based on an unencoded speechsignal input to the subscriber unit, provides the parameterized speechsignal.
 12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executableinstructions for performing the steps recited in claim
 10. 13. In asubscriber unit that wirelessly communicates with an infrastructure, thesubscriber unit comprising a speech recognition client and theinfrastructure comprising a speech recognition server, a method forproviding information signals to the subscriber unit; receiving, by thespeech recognition client, the unencoded speech signal; analyzing, bythe speech recognition client, the unencoded speech signal to provide aparameterized speech signal; transmitting, by the subscriber unit, theparameterized speech signal to the speech recognition server; andreceiving, by the subscriber unit from the infrastructure, theinformation signals based on the parameterized speech signals.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising a step of: using the informationsignals to control operation of the subscriber unit.
 15. The method ofclaim 13, further comprising a step of: based on the informationsignals, locally generating control signals for controlling operation ofany of the subscriber unit and at least one device coupled to thesubscriber unit.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the subscriber unitis coupled to at least one device, further comprising a step of: usingthe information signals to control operation of the at least one device.17. method of claim 16, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to the atleast one device via an automobile-based communication path and theinformation signals are provided to the at least one device via theautomobile-based communication path.
 18. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising a step of: operating upon the information signals.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, further comprising steps of: providing user data inresponse to the information signals to the infrastructure; andresponsive to the user data, receiving additional information signalsfrom the infrastructure.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein thesubscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, further comprising astep of: operating, by the at least one device, upon the informationsignals.
 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising steps of:providing user data in response to the information signals to theinfrastructure; and responsive to the user data, providing additionalinformation signals from the infrastructure.
 22. The method of claim 13,wherein the information signals are provided by the speech recognitionserver.
 23. The method of claim 13, wherein the information signals areprovided by a control entity forming a part of the infrastructure andcoupled to the speech recognition server.
 24. A computer-readable mediumhaving computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recitedin claim
 13. 25. In a wireless communications system comprising one ormore subscriber units in wireless communication with an infrastructure,each of the one or more subscriber units comprising a speech recognitionclient and the infrastructure comprising a speech recognition server, amethod for providing information signals to a subscriber unit of the oneor more subscriber units, the method comprising steps of: receiving, bythe speech recognition client, an unencoded speech signal; analyzing, bythe speech recognition client, the unencoded speech signal to provide aparameterized speech signal; transmitting, by the subscriber unit, theparameterized speech signal to the speech recognition server;performing, by the speech recognition server, speech recognitionanalysis on the parameterized speech signal to provide recognizedutterances; determining, by the speech recognition server, theinformation signals based on the recognized utterances; and responsiveto the recognized speech utterances, providing, by the infrastructure,the information signals to the subscriber unit.
 26. The method of claim25, further comprising a step of: based on the information signals,locally generating, by the subscriber unit, control signals forcontrolling operation of any of the subscriber unit and at least onedevice coupled to the subscriber unit.
 27. The method of claim 25, thestep of providing the information signals further comprising a step of:directing the information signals to the subscriber unit, wherein theinformation signals control operation of the subscriber unit.
 28. Themethod of claim 25, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at leastone device, the step of providing the information signals furthercomprising a step of: directing the information signals to the at leastone device, wherein the information signals control operation of the atleast one device.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the subscriberunit is coupled to at least one device, via an automobile-basedcommunication path and the information signals are provided to the atleast one device via the automobile-based communication path.
 30. Themethod of claim 25, the step of providing the information signalsfurther comprising a step of: directing the information signals to thesubscriber unit, wherein the subscriber unit operates upon theinformation signals.
 31. The method of claim 30, further comprisingsteps of: receiving, by the infrastructure, user data in response to theinformation signals from the subscriber unit; and responsive to the userdata, providing, by the infrastructure, additional information signalsto the subscriber unit.
 32. The method of claim 25, wherein thesubscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, the step of providingthe information signals further comprising a step of: directing theinformation signals to the at least one device, wherein the at least onedevice operates upon the information signals.
 33. The method of claim32, further comprising steps of: receiving, by the infrastructure, userdata in response to the information signals from the subscriber unit;and responsive to the user data, providing, by the infrastructure,additional information signals to the subscriber unit.
 34. The method ofclaim 25, wherein the information signals are provided by the speechrecognition server.
 35. The method of claim 25, wherein the informationsignals are provided by a control entity forming a part of theinfrastructure and coupled to the speech recognition server.
 36. Acomputer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions forperforming the steps recited in claim
 25. 37. A speech recognitionserver for use in an infrastructure of a wireless communication system,wherein the infrastructure wirelessly communicates with one or moresubscriber units, the speech recognition server comprising: a receiverthat takes as input signals regarding a parameterized speech signaloutput by a subscriber unit of the one or more subscriber units andprovides as output the parameterized speech signal; a speech recognitionanalyzer, coupled to the receiver, that performs speech recognitionanalysis on the parameterized speech signal to provide recognizedutterances; and a transmitter, coupled to the speech recognitionanalyzer, that provides information regarding the recognized utterancesto a control entity forming a part of the infrastructure, wherein thecontrol entity provides information signals, based on the informationregarding the recognized utterances, to the subscriber unit.
 38. Awireless communication system comprising the speech recognition serverin accordance with claim 37, wherein the speech recognition server isresident in any one of a group of locations comprising a user'sworkspace, an enterprise's network, and a public network.
 39. A speechrecognition server for use in an infrastructure, wherein theinfrastructure wirelessly communicates with one or more subscribe units,the speech recognition server comprising: a receiver that takes as inputsignals regarding a parameterized speech signal output by a subscriberunit of the one or more subscriber units and provides as output theparameterized speech signal; a speech recognition analyzer, coupled tothe receiver, that performs speech recognition analysis on theparameterized speech signal to provide recognized utterances; a controlprocessor that takes as input the recognized utterances and providesinformation signals based on the recognized utterances; and atransmitter, coupled to the control processor, that provides theinformation signals to the subscriber unit of the one or more subscribeunits.
 40. A wireless communication system comprising the speechrecognition server in accordance with claim 39, wherein the speechrecognition server is resident in any one of a group of locationscomprising a user's workspace, an enterprise's network, and a publicnetwork.
 41. A subscriber unit that wirelessly communicates with aninfrastructure, the subscriber unit comprising: a speech recognitionclient that takes as input an unencoded speech signal and analyzes thatunencoded speech signal to provide a parameterized speech signal; atransmitter, coupled to the speech recognition client, that wirelesslycommunicates the parameterized speech signal to the infrastructure; anda receiver that takes as input signals regarding information signals andprovides the information signals as output, wherein the informationsignals are generated by a speech recognition server residing in theinfrastructure and are based on the parameterized speech signal.
 42. Thesubscriber unit of claim 41, further comprising: means, coupled to thereceiver, for coupling the subscriber unit to at least one device,wherein the information signals are used to control operation of the atleast one device.
 43. The subscriber unit of claim 42, wherein the meansfor coupling comprises an automobile-based communication path.
 44. Thesubscriber unit of claim 41, wherein the information signals are used tocontrol operation of the subscriber unit.
 45. The subscriber unit ofclaim 41, further comprising: means, based on the information signals,for locally generating control signals for controlling operation of anyof the subscriber unit and at least one device coupled to the subscriberunit.
 46. The subscriber unit of claim 41, wherein the informationsignals are operated upon by the subscriber unit.
 47. The subscriberunit of claim 46, wherein the transmitter further functions to provide,to the infrastructure, user data in response to the information signals,and wherein the receiver further functions to receive, responsive to theuser data, additional information signals from the infrastructure. 48.The subscriber unit of claim 41, further comprising: means, coupled tothe receiver, for coupling the subscriber unit to at least one device,wherein the at least one device operates upon the information signals.49. The subscriber unit of claim 48, wherein the transmitter furtherfunctions to provide, to the infrastructure, user data in response tothe information signals, and wherein the receiver further functions toreceive, responsive to the user data, additional information signalsfrom the infrastructure.
 50. The subscriber unit of claim 48, whereinthe means for coupling comprises an automobile-based communication path.51. In a subscriber unit that wirelessly communicates with aninfrastructure, the subscriber unit comprising a speech recognitionclient and the infrastructure comprising a speech recognition server, amethod for providing information signals to the subscriber unit:receiving, by the speech recognition client, an unencoded speech signal;analyzing, by the speech recognition client, the unencoded speech signalto provide a parameterized speech signal; analyzing, by the speechrecognition client, the parameterized speech signal to providerecognized utterances; determining, by the speech recognition client,the recognized utterances comprise a predetermined utterance;transmitting, by the subscriber unit, a second parameterized speechsignal to the speech recognition server based on the determination; andreceiving, by the subscriber unit from the infrastructure, theinformation signals based on the second parameterized speech signal. 52.The method of claim 51, wherein the received speech signal is anunencoded speech signal.
 53. The method of claim 51, wherein thesubscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, the method furthercomprising: directing the received information signals to the at leastone device, wherein the information signals control operation of the atleast one device.
 54. The method of claim 51, wherein the subscriberunit is coupled to at least one device, the method further comprising:directing the received information signals to the at least one device,wherein the at least one device operates upon the information signals.55. The method of claim 51, wherein the predetermined utterance providesan indication of an interrupt.
 56. The method of claim 51, furthercomprising: performing a speech recognition analysis on the secondparameterized speech signal at the speech recognition server.
 57. Asubscriber unit that wirelessly communicates with an infrastructure, thesubscriber unit comprising: a speech recognition client that takes asinput an unencoded speech signal and analyzes that unencoded speechsignal to provide a parameterized speech signal, performs a speechrecognition analysis on the parameterized speech to provide recognizedutterances, and determines whether the recognized utterances comprise apredetermined utterance; a transmitter, coupled to the speechrecognition client, that wirelessly communicates a second parameterizedspeech signal to the infrastructure based on the determination; and areceiver that takes as input signals regarding information signals andprovides the information signals as output, wherein the informationsignals are generated by a speech recognition server residing in theinfrastructure and are based on the second parameterized speech signal.58. The subscriber unit of claim 57, wherein the received speech signalis an unencoded speech signal.
 59. The subscriber unit of claim 57,wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, andfurther wherein the information signals control operation of the atleast one device.
 60. The subscriber unit of claim 57, wherein thesubscriber unit is coupled to at least one device, and further whereinthe at least one device operates upon the information signals.
 61. Thesubscriber unit of claim 57, wherein the predetermined utteranceprovides an indication of an interrupt.
 62. In a speech recognitionserver forming a part of an infrastructure that wirelessly communicateswith one or more subscriber units, each of the one or more subscriberunits comprising a speech recognition client, a method for providinginformation signals to a subscriber unit of the one or more subscriberunits, the method comprising steps of: receiving a parameterized speechsignal, produced by the speech recognition client, from the subscriberunit; performing speech recognition analysis on the parameterized speechsignal to provide recognized utterances; determining the recognizedutterances comprise a query; determining information signals based onthe recognized utterances, wherein the information signals provideinformation responsive to the query; and responsive to the recognizedutterances, providing the information signals to the subscriber unit.63. The method of claim 62, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to atleast one device, the method further comprising: directing theinformation signals to the at least one device, wherein the informationsignals control operation of the at least one device.
 64. The method ofclaim 62, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least one device,the method further comprising: directing the information signals to theat least one device, wherein the at least one device operates upon theinformation signals.
 65. The method of claim 62, wherein the querycomprises a query for an entity's telephone number.
 66. The method ofclaim 65, wherein the information signals comprise the entity'stelephone number.
 67. The method of claim 66, wherein the informationsignals further comprise a control signal instructing the subscriberunit to dial the telephone number.
 68. A speech recognition server foruse in an infrastructure, wherein the infrastructure wirelesslycommunicates with one or more subscribe units, the speech recognitionserver comprising: a receiver that takes as input signals regarding aparameterized speech signal output by a subscriber unit of the one ormore subscriber units and provides as output the parameterized speechsignal; a speech recognition analyzer, coupled to the receiver, thatperforms speech recognition analysis on the parameterized speech signalto provide recognized utterances; a control processor that takes asinput the recognized utterances and provides information signals basedon the recognized utterances by determining the recognized utterancescomprise a query, wherein the information signals provide informationresponsive to the query; and a transmitter, coupled to the controlprocessor, that provides the information signals to the subscriber unitof the one or more subscriber units.
 69. The speech recognition serverof claim 68, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least onedevice, and further wherein the subscriber unit directs the informationsignals to the at least one device, wherein the information signalscontrol operation of the at least one device.
 70. The speech recognitionserver of claim 68, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at leastone device, and further wherein the subscriber unit directs theinformation signals to the at least one device, wherein the at least onedevice operates upon the information signals.
 71. The speech recognitionserver of claim 68, wherein the query comprises a query for an entity'stelephone number.
 72. The speech recognition server of claim 71, whereinthe information signals comprise the entity's telephone number.
 73. Thespeech recognition server of claim 72, wherein the information signalsfurther comprise a control signal instructing the subscriber unit todial the telephone number.
 74. In a subscriber unit that wirelesslycommunicates with an infrastructure, the subscriber unit comprising aspeech recognition client and the infrastructure comprising a speechrecognition server, a method for providing information signals to thesubscriber unit: receiving, by the speech recognition client, anunencoded speech signal; analyzing, by the speech recognition client,the unencoded speech signal to provide a parameterized speech signal;transmitting, by the subscriber unit, the parameterized speech signal tothe speech recognition server; and receiving, by the subscriber unitfrom the infrastructure, the information signals based on theparameterized speech signal being associated with recognized utterancesthat comprise a query, wherein the information signals provideinformation responsive to the query.
 75. The method of claim 74, whereinthe received speech signal is an unencoded speech signal.
 76. The methodof claim 74, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least onedevice, the method further comprising: directing the receivedinformation signals to the at least one device, wherein the informationsignals control operation of the at least one device.
 77. The method ofclaim 74, wherein the subscriber unit is coupled to at least one device,the method further comprising: directing the received informationsignals to the at least one device, wherein the at least one deviceoperates upon the information signals.
 78. The method of claim 74,wherein the predetermined utterance provides an indication of aninterrupt.
 79. The method of claim 74, further comprising: performing aspeech recognition analysis on the second parameterized speech signal atthe speech recognition server.
 80. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium having computer-executable instructions for performing the stepsrecited in claim
 51. 81. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumhaving computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recitedin claim
 62. 82. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited inclaim 74.